International Trade and Development Agency
The International Trade and Development Agency (ITDA) is registered as a foreign agent of Taiwan and Thailand under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938. [1]
According to reports filed with the Department of Justice under the FARA Act, International Trade and Development Agency received US $290,000 between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2002, to "monitor Senate and House committee hearings" and to interpret "floor debates in Congress" on behalf of the Taipei Economic & Cultural Representative Office in the U.S.
In the six-month period to June 2000, ITDA also received US$31,500 to undertake similar congressional monitoring work for the Royal Thai Embassy. [2]
In a 1996 article in The Progressive, Jason Vest reported "International Trade and Development Agency has worked for rightist governments in South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia. Though the agency has an Arlington, Virginia, address, the phone records list no such company.
"The consulting firm's president, Lester Wolff, formerly served as Democratic Representative from upstate New York, was once the chairman of both the House Asia/Pacific Affairs subcommittee and the International Narcotics subcommittee.
"Wolff also heads two other groups, both based in New York - the Pacific Community Institute and something called the Honest Ballot Association - neither of which has phone listings.
External links
Jason Vest, "From Green Bay to US flacks spread goodwill for Burma's junta", November 1996. (Note: Only post-1998 editions of The Progressive are available online).
